Talking matters, and sometimes the things we carry live deeper than words can reach. These approaches help your nervous system settle and process what's held in the body and brain.
EMDR, ERP, and Brainspotting are the ones I draw on most, but I also bring in other modalities as needed, whatever fits you and what you're working through.
EMDR, ERP & Brainspotting for adults ready to heal. Serving all of California via telehealth.
Where you look affects how you feel. Brainspotting is built on the discovery that specific eye positions, or "brainspots," connect to where difficult experiences are stored in the brain. By holding a brainspot while staying with what you notice in your body, you give your system a way to process and release distress that talking alone may not reach.
It's quiet, internal work. There's nothing you have to do "right"; your only job is to notice. Many people find Brainspotting reaches places that years of talking couldn't, and it pairs beautifully with talk therapy and EMDR.
We begin gently, grounding your body and noticing what you'd like to work with. There's no need to have the right words for it.
Together we locate the eye position that connects to what you're feeling, then simply rest your gaze there.
You follow whatever arises while I stay with you, letting your system process and release at its own pace.
Video via brainspotting.com, the official Brainspotting site. Opens on YouTube.
ERP is the most effective, research-backed treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and many forms of anxiety. OCD traps you in a cycle: an intrusive thought sparks anxiety, and a compulsion brings momentary relief, which only teaches the brain that the fear was real. ERP gently breaks that cycle. Together, and always at a pace you agree to, we gradually face feared thoughts and situations while resisting the urge to perform compulsions.
Over time, your brain learns that the anxiety passes on its own and the feared outcome doesn't come, and its grip loosens.
We identify your specific obsessions, compulsions, and the situations that trigger them.
We create a step-by-step plan, starting with what feels manageable; you're never thrown in the deep end.
Step by step, you build evidence that you can handle the anxiety, and watch it shrink.
Opens on YouTube.
When something overwhelming happens, the brain can store the memory in a "stuck," unprocessed form, so it keeps resurfacing with all its original intensity. EMDR uses gentle bilateral stimulation (often guided eye movements) to help the brain do what it does naturally: process the experience and file it away as something that's truly over.
You don't have to retell every detail or relive the event. Instead, EMDR helps the memory settle, so it no longer hijacks your present, helping the past finally feel like the past.
We build trust and grounding tools first, so you feel resourced and in control before any reprocessing begins.
While briefly holding a memory in mind, you follow gentle bilateral stimulation as your brain works through it.
We close each session feeling settled, and notice the memory's charge softening over time.
Opens on YouTube.